


strawberry fields forever

by Kit_Kat21



Series: Beatles Tribute [32]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Self-Acceptance, Self-Esteem Issues, Swimming Pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26166112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kit_Kat21/pseuds/Kit_Kat21
Summary: “May I show you something?” Sansa then offered. Eleanor lifted her eyes to hers. “Can you take a look around the pool for me? Do you see anything?”Eleanor frowned without even looking. “What am I supposed to see?” She asked.Sansa smiled. “Well, I see people who all look different with all types of bodies in their swimsuits. And you know what else I see? No one seems to care too much. They all look like they’re just here to have fun.”
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Series: Beatles Tribute [32]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/905319
Comments: 42
Kudos: 78





	strawberry fields forever

**Author's Note:**

> _"Strawberry Fields Forever"_ was written by John Lennon and was on their "Magical Mystery Tour" album. Strawberry Field was a garden in Liverpool where John used to play as a boy. Lennon viewed "Strawberry Fields Forever" as his finest work with the Beatles. It was a very big and important song in the emerging new genre of music known as "psychedelic". When Paul McCartney heard this song, it immediately made him want to write his own song about Liverpool and growing up there, which is the companion song "Penny Lane". 
> 
> One other cool thing about this song: According to the Beatles biography (one of them), it took 45 hours to record, spread over five weeks and it was the most complex recording the Beatles had attempted up to this point.
> 
> (The song really has nothing to do with this story. It was just time I used it.)

…

There were several public pools throughout Greywater and the one closest to their home was simply called East Greywater Public Pool because they lived on the east side of the town. 

With five kids, it was always quite the production when they decided to go but Jon and Sansa supposed they were pros at it by now, having gone to the public pool so many times since moving to the Neck five months earlier. Jon made sure that everyone went to the bathroom _before_ putting on their suits and Sansa made sure their totes were packed with plenty of towels and sunscreen. Poor Brandon, George and Eleanor had inherited their mom’s red hair and sensitive skin and they would burn up without sunscreen. Jon made sure he had money for the concessions hut because the snacks Sansa would bring just weren’t what they wanted when they could smell soft pretzels and hot dogs in the air.

Martha, obviously, couldn’t come with them – no matter how much Max pleaded – and Sansa made sure that her cooling pad was pulled from the freezer and spread out on the floor just in case she wanted to lie on that rather than just one of the air-conditioning vents while they were gone.

The family had pool passes, which Jon held onto for everyone, and the teenager working the front waved them in through the gate. As always, the pool was on the crowded side but the Snow family managed to find themselves a pair of two beach lounge chairs that they immediately commandeered.

“George!” Sansa immediately called out, stopping him in his tracks, just as he tore off his tee-shirt and shoes and was about to take a running leap into the pool.

She crooked her finger and then pointed to the spot in front of her. He came without argument and sitting sideways on the chair, Sansa began applying sunscreen to his skin and Julia and Max waited their turns. Brandon took one of the bottles and put it on himself and then handed it to Jon to do the same.

They then waited. Sansa looked over the children in front of her and then nodded. Brandon and George immediately turned away, making sure not to run in front of the lifeguards and get the whistles blown at them, and they walked very quickly, leaping off the edge and dropping themselves heavily into the deep end.

“Good?” Jon asked with a smile, waiting for his sunscreen check, and Sansa smiled back.

“Good.” _Very good_ , she added silently to herself as she looked at her husband with his bare chest, black swimming trunks and his hair pulled back.

Jon grinned as if he was very capable of reading her thoughts.

“Alright, kids,” Jon said. He made sure he had Max’s arm floaties since he still wasn’t the strongest swimmer and holding Julia’s hand, and herding Max in front of him, they headed for the other end of the pool – the shallow side.

Eleanor stayed with Sansa though, still wearing her shorts and tee-shirt over her swimsuit.

“Do you not want to go in, sweetheart?” Sansa asked.

She was sitting on the other lounge chair and looking around at everyone there, Eleanor shook her head.

Sansa wanted to ask her why not or what was wrong but she looked to Eleanor’s face and guessed fairly quickly. She was ten, a month away from eleven, and she was entering _that_ phase. Sansa tried to think of what to say but she didn’t want to say anything until Eleanor confirmed that not wanting others to see her in her swimsuit was the problem; and not one Sansa had just made up.

Sansa stood up and pulled off her shorts and then sat down, pulling her tank top off over her head. She was wearing a purple one-piece and once her clothes were folded and put away in the tote with everyone else’s, she now began applying suntan lotion to herself. She was aware Eleanor was watching her, but again, Sansa wasn’t going to say anything until Eleanor did.

She supposed that she and the rest of the Snows were used to the Neck weather now but it didn’t mean that they just absolutely _loved_ the relenting sun that beat down on them or the heavy, wet humidity in the air. After all, it was October and they were at the community pool because it was so hot. Sansa would never drink one in front of Jon – or even joke about it – but she could really go for a piña colada right about now. She and Mary Wheaton, their next door neighbor and Sansa’s friend, had gone out for lunch the other day and had both gotten a piña colada – just for fun – and the right now would really hit the spot.

Sansa rubbed the lotion into her skin – feeling the bumps of every scar still marring her body that the swimsuit didn’t cover– and she watched Brandon and George, currently racing one another from one end of the pool to the other, and she spotted Jon, Julia and Max. Max was doggy-paddling with his floaties on and Jon was swimming with Julia on his back, she laughing loudly as Jon sometimes dove them under the water.

She looked back to Eleanor. “I’ll go in with you if you’d like that,” she offered with a smile.

Eleanor was still watching Sansa as she put on the sunscreen lotion and she shook her head again.

“May I show you something?” Sansa then offered. Eleanor lifted her eyes to hers. “Can you take a look around the pool for me? Do you see anything?”

Eleanor frowned without even looking. “What am I supposed to see?” She asked.

Sansa smiled. “Well, _I_ see people who all look different with all types of bodies in their swimsuits. And you know what else I see? No one seems to care too much. They all look like they’re just here to have fun.”

Eleanor slowly looked away from Sansa to look around at all of those at the pool that day. People of all shape and sizes were in their swimsuits and mom was right. No one seemed to care too much about if they looked like they had a fabulous beach body or not.

She looked back to Sansa. “Do people stare at you?”

Eleanor knew her mom was beautiful – more beautiful than a lot of moms that Eleanor saw – but her mom’s body also had scars all over it. They had all seen the scars. They were impossible to hide at all times but no one had ever asked about them and mama had never told them about how she had gotten them. Eleanor knew that Brandon knew. Brandon was the oldest and he knew a lot of things but they had never asked Brandon about them either. They were mom’s scars and mom should be the one to tell them.

Sansa’s smile was soft at that. “They do, yes, but it’s usually for just a moment and then they move on. People, I think, can tell that they don’t bother me so why would it ever bother them? My scars don’t affect them whatsoever. People, for the most part, are kind who would _never_ tease others.”

Eleanor nodded, knowing that, but sometimes, it was hard to remember; or believe. She looked to George and Brandon, no longer racing one another but trying to dunk the other.

“I’m going to say something else and it might seem a bit harsh to you but when you’re an adult, you’ll realize that it’s absolutely true.” Eleanor looked back to Sansa, openly curious. “For the most part, and remember that there are always special circumstances to this but when it comes to situations like _this_ , complete strangers don’t care about you, Eleanor.”

Eleanor frowned at that. That _did_ seem pretty harsh, especially coming from her mom.

But… after a moment of thinking it through, that was the truth. She knew it was. Who cared how she looked in her swimsuit? These were all strangers to one another and no one was paying attention to her.

“And if you’d like, I’ll tell you about my scars when you’re just a little bit older,” Sansa finished.

Eleanor nodded without pausing. “I want to know.”

She didn’t know anything about them but she knew that her mom was brave; both from having gotten so many scars and living to tell her about it but also because she had no problem wearing a swimsuit. 

Sansa smiled and then, without a word, she held the tube of lotion towards her. Eleanor hesitated as she took one more look around. _No one cares_ , she told herself. Finally, she stood up and took off her shorts and tee-shirt and didn’t miss the smile her mom gave. Her swimsuit was a one-piece as well – a swirl of blues and greys – and she began slathering herself in lotion.

No one suddenly laughed or pointed at her. As mom had said, no one cared.

Sansa got her back for her and when she finished, Eleanor turned back around to face her. “Someone is always going to be thinner and someone is always going to be heavier than you, Eleanor. You remember that, too. You remember that you’re Eleanor and Eleanor Snow is exactly who she is supposed to be.”

Eleanor was not expecting to have that reaction to her mom’s words but she felt tears starting to sting her eyes and without a word, she stepped in between her mom’s legs and hugged her. Sansa hugged her tight and kissed her on the head.

“Eleanor!” “El!”

Both turned to see that Brandon and George were calling for her from the pool. They had also been joined by two of Brandon’s friends from both school and cross country - Lewys and Holly – who were also at the pool that day.

Sansa smiled at Eleanor. “Go and have fun, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, mom,” Eleanor smiled at her, too.

Sansa watched as Eleanor walked to the edge of the pool and sitting down on the ledge, she slipped into the water. She smiled when she overheard Holly, “I love your swimsuit! It looks so amazing with your hair!” And to a ten-almost eleven-year old, hearing an actual teenage girl, who was wearing a bikini, compliment her like that, Sansa knew it had just truly made Eleanor’s day no matter what her mom had said.

Leaving the older ones to the deep end, Sansa stood and headed to join Jon, Julia and Max in the more shallow end. As she walked, she told herself that no one was looking at her. She recited the words to herself that she had told Eleanor. _Strangers don’t care about you._ Every time she put on a swimsuit and showed her body like this in public, Sansa said those words to herself.

“Mama!” Max exclaimed as Sansa moved around some kids and parents to come down the steps and lowered herself into the water.

Sansa laughed as Max came doggy paddling towards her, his tongue sticking out as he panted. “You are going to be a champion swimmer yet,” she vowed as he paddled right into her arms.

Jon was swimming with Julia, still on his back, and he turned, his smile widening when he saw Sansa now in the water with them. Julia laughed – her laugh seemingly louder than all the others laughing in the pool as Jon swam, gliding through the water. Max was paddling circles around Sansa, wanting to make sure that she didn’t miss a single one, and as Jon came to stand in front of Sansa, Julia, still laughing, slid from his back, dunking herself beneath the water.

“Hey, pretty lady,” Jon grinned at her and Sansa rolled her eyes but had to laugh at him.

Her husband was such a dork and she loved him madly. He always knew exactly what she needed him to say and how she needed him to look at her in any given moment.

Smiling, she put her arms around his shoulders and Jon’s hands slid over her hips, their lips meeting.

“Not fair!” Jon suddenly shouted out and Julia and Max began laughing – and couldn’t stop laughing – as Sansa put her hands on Jon’s shoulders and pushed him down as hard as she could under the water.

Sansa only had a second to let out a shriek before Jon grabbed her legs and pulled her right under with him.

…

**Author's Note:**

> I know what you're thinking. 
> 
> ANOTHER Beatles story? Katie, you have a gazillion WIPs you could be working on. 
> 
> Trust me. I know. But it's 100 degrees where I live - an endless heat wave - and I wish I had a community pool to go to. 
> 
> THANK YOU so much for reading!


End file.
